My dad always joked that I needed to get a wife in grad school at Cal or with a grad degree from Cal (that's what he got, is how the joke spawned...), since I was a kid.

Just after graduating I told my future wife she could go to Cal. It's hard to get in, but she was qualified. So she checked it out and the deadline for applications was the next day. She put together her package overnight, worked with the academic system people's around her who were super willing to help, and then got in.

Boggles my mind, still.

The only place she applied and didn't get into was SJSU. Some schools just have higher standards I guess.

mbBear said:

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TandemBear said:

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OMFG! I can't believe it, but my daughter just received an admission letter today from UC Berkeley!!!!!!!

I'm beside myself with joy! The whole extended family is blown away and just so excited for her. I'm still in disbelief. We're traveling in the desert southwest now and received notice today as we were busily arriving in our new hotel. There I was in a parking garage unloading our stuff when tears came to my eyes. Texting the family like a madman...

I'm dumbfounded. Awestruck. Mute. Giddy as can be! The extreme competition to get into Cal is so high, I wrote it off years ago. I realized that it takes super-human ability to gain admission to the best public university in the world. And although she was raised in Blue & Gold, our expectations had always been tempered. We've always taken the approach that we'll be perfectly happy patronizing one of our other fine UC schools. Her heart was set on UC Santa Barbara. And it took a while to receive notice of admission there. And boy were we relieved and happy UCSB admitted her. Seemed (and still does) like such a good fit. She was waitlisted for UCLA, and I must admit, it gave me some hope for Cal. But I had to tell myself to just hold those horses and chill! Don't get those hopes up! But I realized that Cal was a possibility, but probably wouldn't happen. I even suggested going the waitlist or spring enrollment option if she really had hopes high on UCLA or Cal.

But dammit, what do you know! Cal Cal Cal!!!!

GO BEARS!

Such a proud dad right now. Hard to express completely!!!

Now, all that said, she still has to make a decision. She's looked at so many schools and options, both near and far (mostly far), so she may have her heart set elsewhere. And I'll do my best to let her make her decision. (We happen to have a neighbor who was also accepted to Cal last year and she opted to go to community college instead. She was determined that it was the best route for her. I gently encouraged her, but ultimately respected her decision.) I'll have to just ease into the process and not be too overbearing or overwhelming.

But wow, just wow! For now, it's enjoy the moment. Enjoy it fully!

Ok, I'll stop gushing now. Thanks for reading.

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Congrats! But please don't post in 2 weeks telling us she was also accepted at Furd, and has decided to go there instead....

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Why would she decide to abandon top prize to go to her safety school?

If she wants to be a Business Major, the uncertainty in that area for a freshman at Cal can be a deal breaker.

We are a Cal family. My kids both graduated from Cal in the 90's. BUT my granddaughter, who is smarter than either of them didn't get in. She has to decide between Santa Barbara and Irvine. She was accepted by both.
My other granddaughter never had an interest in Cal (dammit) but is in grad school at Boulder.

Does she really want to go to a school that just hired Mark Fox?

Congratulations on her acceptance to Cal. Quite an accomplishment. Neither of my sons got into Cal as undergrads and decided to attend UCD. Both really enjoyed Davis and the campus community. Both did attend Cal for grad school so we still are a Cal family.

bearister said:

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If she wants to be a Business Major, the uncertainty in that area for a freshman at Cal can be a deal breaker.

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Ditto with CS these days. It's heavily capped (and for good reason, have you seen the compensation new college grads are pulling these days?)

My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

oski003 said:

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Does she really want to go to a school that just hired Mark Fox?

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Probably not if she's a male 4-5 star prep basketball player, but I really doubt she is!

Congrats, TandemBear!

Quote:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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this is not a thing in California public schools since 1996. They are not allowed to consider race in public education.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_California_Proposition_209

burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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Why did he only apply to two schools?

(As I've mentioned in the college admissions fraud thread, it seems like students with 4.0+ GPAs and high test scores are a dime a dozen these days, and that admissions offices are flooded with these students and could fill many classes with them. But maybe I'm wrong.)

Random question: are HS students allowed to take classes for pass/fail?

okaydo said:

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burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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Why did he only apply to two schools?

(As I've mentioned in the college admissions fraud thread, it seems like students with 4.0+ GPAs and high test scores are a dime a dozen these days, and that admissions offices are flooded with these students and could fill many classes with them. But maybe I'm wrong.)

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Dime a dozen:
4.0 + GPAs: Yep
High standardized test scores: Nope*


* You have to actually deliver the goods.

moonpod said:

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Congrats. I'm jealous. My daughter ended up at UCSD this fall which is awesome but I really wanted her to be a golden bear. I got try #2 in a couple years! CONGRATS

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Congrats on UCSD admittance. I was bummed that I didn't get into Berkeley but getting into UCSD was certainly a great consolation prize. Of course, I am technically an alum based on my statistics course at Cal in the summer.

Best of luck on #2, moon.

bearister said:

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okaydo said:

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burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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Why did he only apply to two schools?

(As I've mentioned in the college admissions fraud thread, it seems like students with 4.0+ GPAs and high test scores are a dime a dozen these days, and that admissions offices are flooded with these students and could fill many classes with them. But maybe I'm wrong.)

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Dime a dozen:
4.0 + GPAs: Yep
High standardized test scores: Nope*


* You have to actually deliver the goods.

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Okay, 89,000 high schoolers applied last year. And 13,500 got in.

Certainly, a large number of those 89,000 got at least pretty good SAT scores before applying with their assumedly stellar GPAs, and a very significant number got really high scores.

Again, just assuming. But it seems like in the past decade, you're hearing more and more stories of kids with great SAT scores and perfect grades getting rejected. It just seems like there is a lot of them. And UC Berkeley doesn't have room for all these perfect students. Or doesn't want a too perfect student body.

Congratulations! Maybe the grandchildren of your daughter will actually get to see Cal play football as Pac-12 Champions in the Rose Bowl!

burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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Sadly, it is a thing. Of course, there are plenty of kids with even better numbers who aren't white or male.

I do not want to fan the flames, but we've come to a point where being a white male carries backlash.

Certainly, I wish color were not an issue, but even still there are not enough spaces for the number of qualified applicants.

Males are actually a minority in college these days. Iirc the ratio is 57/43 female and the gap is widening.

The US gov't has some serious issues to address.

Grigsby said:

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burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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Sadly, it is a thing. Of course, there are plenty of kids with even better numbers who aren't white or male.

I do not want to fan the flames, but we've come to a point where being a white male carries backlash.

Certainly, I wish color were not an issue, but even still there are not enough spaces for the number of qualified applicants.

Males are actually a minority in college these days. Iirc the ratio is 57/43 female and the gap is widening.

The US gov't has some serious issues to address.

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It sucks that white guys have to face competition these days.

"The 1950's were the best. That's when White guys roamed the earth like King Kong in a three piece suit with a dental plan." Denis Leary

Bear19 said:

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Congratulations! Maybe the grandchildren of your daughter will actually get to see Cal play football as Pac-12 Champions in the Rose Bowl!

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Ouch.
True - but it hurts none the less

okaydo said:

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burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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Why did he only apply to two schools?

(As I've mentioned in the college admissions fraud thread, it seems like students with 4.0+ GPAs and high test scores are a dime a dozen these days, and that admissions offices are flooded with these students and could fill many classes with them. But maybe I'm wrong.)

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To get into the Cal Poly's? I know they are desirable amongst the Cal states but didn't know that 4.0 GPAs was commonplace for these schools. His sister got in with worse numbers 2 years earlier so he thought he was a shoe in. He did get into the maritime school in California, but that was a backup that he didn't think he'd have to use.

nvm
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/education/article211776744.html

I have friends who live out of state so their kids can get into California schools...

Yes white males are now at a disadvantage. Also law firms prefer hiring women to males...

Goobear said:

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I have friends who live out of state so their kids can get into California schools...

Yes white males are now at a disadvantage. Also law firms prefer hiring women to males...

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I think for several years more women have been matriculating to med school than men. A logical path for males who get into top universities is so they can get an MR degree.

The difficulty of getting into Cal can be assigned to the following changes since I graduated in 1972:
1) Hostility toward white kids on the part of admissions staff in spite of Prop 209
2) Increase in population
3) Failure of the state to impose public facilities fees on new houses. We all are aware of public facilities fees imposed by local governments for parks, schools, sewer systems, water systems, streets, police, fire and other services provided by local governments. However, the state imposes no such fees to support services provided by the state, especially public higher education, even though services provided by the state are impacted by new houses in the same way as local school districts. Developers and newcomers are getting a free ride at the expense of long term California residents.

I don't know #1...the system is setup for their benefit espcially if consider resources and where the good school districts are located...yet some students simply don't want to compete academically. Heck there's a thing called white flight in places like Cupertino where the school district is very good and very competitive. Families are pulling their kids from excellent public school to private schools...so they can get the cuddled and inflated grades. I do however agree with state funding and taxes.

WSJ: The New White Flight

Quote:

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In Silicon Valley, two high schools with outstanding academic reputations are losing white students as Asian students move in. Why?

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okaydo said:

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Grigsby said:

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burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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Sadly, it is a thing. Of course, there are plenty of kids with even better numbers who aren't white or male.

I do not want to fan the flames, but we've come to a point where being a white male carries backlash.

Certainly, I wish color were not an issue, but even still there are not enough spaces for the number of qualified applicants.

Males are actually a minority in college these days. Iirc the ratio is 57/43 female and the gap is widening.

The US gov't has some serious issues to address.

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It sucks that white guys have to face competition these days.

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It's a bit more complex than that. Caucasian makes have long been in positions of authority. The fallout is that non-Caucasians have been in a "negative feedback loop" for a long time.

The problem comes when racism creeps in and it is justified because it is a response to past acts of racism.

Wiping the slate clean doesn't address the negative feed back loop, but at what point does the slate get wiped clean so everyone is equal? When does the white person raised by methhead(s) get treated the same as a non white person who grows up in the projects?

Assuming the same economic circumstances and assuming for arguments sake their situations are equally dire at point are these two individuals treated the same? 20 years, 100 years, 200 years, 1000 years, never?

MugsVanSant said:

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The difficulty of getting into Cal can be assigned to the following changes since I graduated in 1972:
1) Hostility toward white kids on the part of admissions staff in spite of Prop 209
2) Increase in population
3) Failure of the state to impose public facilities fees on new houses. We all are aware of public facilities fees imposed by local governments for parks, schools, sewer systems, water systems, streets, police, fire and other services provided by local governments. However, the state imposes no such fees to support services provided by the state, especially public higher education, even though services provided by the state are impacted by new houses in the same way as local school districts. Developers and newcomers are getting a free ride at the expense of long term California residents.

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Also, here's what happened since you graduated in 1972.

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/09/us/rapid-rise-in-students-of-asian-origin-causing-problems-at-berkeley-campus.html

Grigsby said:

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okaydo said:

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Grigsby said:

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burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

---

Sadly, it is a thing. Of course, there are plenty of kids with even better numbers who aren't white or male.

I do not want to fan the flames, but we've come to a point where being a white male carries backlash.

Certainly, I wish color were not an issue, but even still there are not enough spaces for the number of qualified applicants.

Males are actually a minority in college these days. Iirc the ratio is 57/43 female and the gap is widening.

The US gov't has some serious issues to address.

---

It sucks that white guys have to face competition these days.

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It's a bit more complex than that. Caucasian makes have long been in positions of authority. The fallout is that non-Caucasians have been in a "negative feedback loop" for a long time.

The problem comes when racism creeps in and it is justified because it is a response to past acts of racism.

Wiping the slate clean doesn't address the negative feed back loop, but at what point does the slate get wiped clean so everyone is equal? When does the white person raised by methhead(s) get treated the same as a non white person who grows up in the projects?

Assuming the same economic circumstances and assuming for arguments sake their situations are equally dire at point are these two individuals treated the same? 20 years, 100 years, 200 years, 1000 years, never?

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I'm pretty sure under the holistic process, this is taken into consideration.

But in the 1960s, it was much easy to get into UC Berkeley when there wasn't a lot of competition. Now there's a lot of competition. Now 4.0+ GPAs are boring. So are high test scores. If Cal Poly SLO has to turn down 10,000 4.0 GPA students, imagine how many UC Berkeley has to turn down?

"It sucks that white guys have to face competition ..." Okaydo

To that I say BULL ****! White guys are NOT ALLOWED to compete. If everyone was allowed to compete the admissions would all go to those with the highest grades and test scores. (I presume that the competition you refer to is academic.) Maybe 90% of the students would be Asian. But very few, if any, would be "underrepresented minorities". The admissions offices has been cheating for decades in the interest of "diversity".

burritos said:

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My colleague's son had a 4.2 gpa and ACT of 31(don't know if that's good) was in school leadership, no sports. He's heading to local CC after he was rejected from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona. The mom said it's because he's a white male. Is this a thing?

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There is no affirmative action in California public schools since 1996. My daughter had a 2250 SAT, 4.0 won the Fremont citywide science fair, was a paid lecturer for Stanford's education department, won a National Achievement Scholarship and did not get into Cal, her lifelong dream school, and only got into UCSD on appeal where she was one of only 40 African Americans in a class of 8,000.

Your concern about inability to gain admission to Cal Poly with a 4.0 (and similar situations) is caused by the state's failure to impose an educational impact fee on new houses to fund higher education. The ability to add space to Cal is very limited due to the to physical limitations. But there is space to add to other higher education facilities . However there is not the money to keep up with the population growth because of the failure of the state to make new housing pay for the higher education facilities its residents will require. (Of course, the same goes for state parks, prisons, and water projects.) When people see that their own kids are not getting a fair shake out of public higher education they are reluctant to raise taxes to provide for more unfairness.

I did not see football player in her resume. I doubt very much if there are no racial preferences at Cal. It is the same admissions staff that opposed Prop 209. They have always regarded Prop 209 as an obstacle to their agenda instead of a law to be obeyed. "Wholistic review" is just a euphemism for racial preferences.

If we were to start a movement based on what we can agree upon, I think there is a constituency in California for imposing a statewide higher education impact fee on new housing. Unfortunately this idea is discussed so little that I as far as I know I am the first one to think of it. (I know I must not be.) We need to start putting this idea on the internet, e.g., discussions following newspaper article, forums like this, etc.